Bill has been battling terminal cancer, which has made traveling on their own nearly impossible. However, their dream of visiting Juneau remained alive. That’s when a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Houston stepped in to help. Bill and Becky, who have been married for 50 years, are regulars at the Springwoods Village location. When the employees heard about their wish, they rallied to ensure this devoted couple could check off the final item on their bucket list.
Terminally ill man’s dream to visit all state capitals fell short, Chick-fil-A stepped in
A terminally ill man named Bill were determined to check off this final wish before it was too late.
No one wants to look back on life with regrets, which is why so many of us dream of ticking off every item on our bucket lists. For one elderly couple, Bill and Becky, that dream has been a lifelong passion for travel. Over the decades, they’ve explored every state capital in the U.S.—except for one. According to Click 2 Houston, the couple had one final destination in mind: Juneau, Alaska. It was a wish they were determined to fulfill, despite the challenges standing in their way.
The Chick-fil-A team reached out to their contacts in Juneau, where employees at the Alaska State Capitol helped by taking photos of a strategically placed cardboard cutout of Bill and Becky from their wedding day in front of the Capitol. They also signed the visitors' log and sent souvenirs from Alaska back to Texas. The Houston Chick-fil-A then invited Bill and Becky in to present them with a scrapbook and the gifts from Alaska, including a custom drawing of the couple in front of the Mendenhall Glacier. Bill and Becky were thrilled to have their 50th state capital visit celebrated in such a memorable way, even though they couldn’t physically travel to the location. “Bill and Becky mean so much to our team and we wanted to do what we could to help them complete their bucket list,” Houston Chick-fil-A Owner-Operator Mike Magdaleno told the outlet. “We loved channeling a spirit for adventure from Alaska to Texas, and were honored to play a small part in helping them achieve this incredible milestone.”
This is a prime example of how the spirit of adventure doesn’t fade with age. Similarly, another elderly couple, Clayton Balabanov and his wife Theresa, decided to embrace their wanderlust after retirement by building a mobile home to travel around Canada. Unable to afford a brand-new truck for their van life, they opted to work with an old one, spending a year rebuilding it. Additionally, the couple purchased a used trailer from eBay. After five years of dedicated hard work, the semitrailer transformed into a space worthy of long-term habitation.
For their first journey, Clayton and Theresa chose Nebraska, where they faced several hurdles. On their YouTube channel, Nomad Monster, the couple shared how they dealt with roof leaks and issues with their solar battery. Having sold their home and taxi business, they are now looking forward to spending their golden years traveling across Canada. "You only live so long," Clayton told Insider. "It's absolutely guaranteed you're going to die, so make the most of living between now and then. That's what we're doing."
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